A probe by Bomang chief of Chittagong Hill Tracts found network marketing company Destiny Group's involvement in hill cutting and commercial planting of trees on land owned by indigenous people of Bandarban.

Good news in the world's flu fight: One dose of the new swine flu vaccine looks strong enough to protect adults and can spark protection within 10 days of the shot, Australian and US researchers said Thursday.

At least 1000 Bangladeshi miners of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) went on an indefinite strike Thursday midnight to press home their 14-point demand including festival bonus and round-the-clock doctor and ambulance facilities for underground miners.

Bangladesh is negotiating with Malaysia to obtain "source country" status within a few months to export manpower there on a regular basis through a transparent system, according to the Bangladesh High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur.

In the wake of rising criminal activities by different outlawed parties in the country's southwest region, the state minister for home will hold a meeting with the top officials of law enforcement agencies of the region in Pabna today.

An assistant engineer of Rangpur Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) lodged a case with Kotwali Police Station against 60 activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jubo League for preventing contractors from dropping tender schedules Thursday.

People of Babukhali village at Mohammadpur upazila here besieged a local police camp after a police team led by camp in-charge Assistant Sub-Inspector Lutfur Rahman allegedly tortured an innocent villager yesterday.

State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku yesterday criticised the call of hartal by the national committee on protection of oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports and said that people will reject it.

Editorial

THE agreement reached in Delhi by Bangladesh and India through bilateral talks between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries is clearly a breakthrough. We welcome the many positive signs coming out of the talks. From an economic and political perspective, the results are pivotal for both the countries. The broad agreement reached on some key issues sets the ground for more positive development in the near future. The agreement on transit to Nepal and Bhutan, and the commitment of 100 MW of power are two immediate steps that are likely to benefit Bangladesh in the very near future. There are several other areas, where detailed planning and quick follow-up are necessary.

IN the business world just how many weighty, pompous, complex and impractical ideas of running an enterprise have vanished as quickly as they popped out -- there is simply no count of it. At the other pole, there would be a lost list of anti-poverty initiatives wilting before the surge of newer ideas, those too failing to take root, far less branch out.

SWINE flu, technically known as H1N1, started earlier this year in Mexico, migrated northwards into the USA and Canada and then crossed both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. It has since touched the shores of Australia, Africa and China and wrought havoc among their respective populations. WHO has reported that at least 2,185 persons have already died. Hundreds of thousands of others are still suffering from this virus.

THE education minister has formally submitted the draft report of national education policy 2009 to the PM on 7 September. It is expected that implementation of the report will start from the next academic year.

THERE is every reason to be pessimistic about relations between India and Pakistan. One is determined not to resume talks until it sees the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack on November 26 last year brought to book. The other is stuck on the stand that New Delhi has not sent it “enough evidence” to pursue a viable case in the court of law, particularly against Hafiz Saeed, the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, which was earlier known as Lashkar-e-Toiba. Saeed has been the bone of contention for a long time, in fact, after he was set free at Kandahar in exchange of Indian passengers hijacked by his men. Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said that Pakistan is “playing with our emotions” in not detaining Saeed. Chidambaram has given more details to Islamabad, how Saeed masterminded the 26/11 and was accompanied by one 'Major General Sahib' (probably a retired Pakistani officer) during a meeting with Kasab and other terrorists at a training camp.

The ICC is considering a trial splitting of one-day matches into two innings of 25 overs for each team, Dave Richardson, the ICC's cricket manager, has said. The idea was mooted by Sachin Tendulkar last week.

Former ICC president Ehsan Mani has accused the BCCI of trying to isolate Pakistan from the cricketing world and held it responsible for turning down the proposition of holding Pakistan's share of the 2011 World Cup matches at neutral venues.

Renault have launched criminal proceedings against Nelson Piquet junior and Nelson Piquet senior for making false allegations and blackmail in relation to claims that the team conspired to fix the outcome of the 2008 Singapore GP.

Indian origin England Batsman Ravi Bopara and his teammate Owais Shah have been accused of playing for their places rather than for the team, as the team trails Australia 0-3 in the seven match ODI series.

The first phase of the ambitious Strategic Transport Plan (STP) of Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Board (DTCB) has almost failed to achieve its target of easing appalling traffic congestion in the city.

The education ministry has asked authorities of different public universities to use information and communication technology regarding admission related matters to ease sufferings of the admission seekers of the academic session of 2009-2010.

Different political and cultural organisations yesterday gave separate statements supporting as well as opposing the half-day hartal called by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port on September 14.

International

Iran's latest nuclear proposals do not answer key questions about its own nuclear programme, a spokeswoman for the EU's foreign policy chief said Friday, adding to growing Western scepticism of the offer.

European ministers warned that December's landmark UN climate talks could fail, as the EU Commission urged rich nations Thursday to stump up tens of billions of euros to help the developing world combat global warming."The Copenhagen deal is hanging in the balance," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters.

The United States and four other nations signed onto an international plan to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia, committing Wednesday to playing a leadership role in protecting one of the world's busiest shipping routes.

Drawing on the spirit that spurred volunteers to rush to the burning World Trade Centre on Sept. 11, 2001, Americans looked for ways to help each other on a day better known for mourning the thousands of people killed in the nation's worst terrorist attack.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Hashmi has said that all dictators including General Ayub Khan, General Yahya Khan and General Zia-ul-Haq should be tried and their bodies should be exhumed and hanged.

Former Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf possess some secret records regarding Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and may make them public if the PML-N and PPP push further for his high treason trial.

Cases against former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf continue to be filed abated, as now a petition has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking contempt-of-court proceedings against the former general for 'illegally' preventing 60 judges from performing judicial duties after the November 2007 emergency.

President Barack Obama met at the White House on Thursday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the deputy supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates armed forces, the White House said.

Arts & Entertainment

Pop star Mehreen's next album will offer something novel to music lovers. Mehreen's upcoming album will feature music by rock bands. Several bands have already sent their demos to Mehreen, and come September 15 the best songs will be selected. The selected songs will be covered by Mehreen, along with bands. The album, which is likely to have 10/12 tracks, will be released by Eid-ul-Azha.

As TV channels buzz with Eid specials, Chayanaki Chowdhury is here with her latest line of works. "This is the first time that seven plays directed by me are going on air on Eid. During the previous Eid ul Azha, six of my plays were aired," said Chayanaki.

Special Eid fashion programme "Fashion.com" will be aired this afternoon at 4:05pm on channel i. This episode of the programme will highlight attire collections of fashion house Rong, footwear of Gallerie Apex and hairstyle and make up by Ban Thai.

As TV channels buzz with Eid specials, Chayanaki Chowdhury is here with her latest line of works. "This is the first time that seven plays directed by me are going on air on Eid. During the previous Eid ul Azha, six of my plays were aired," said Chayanaki.

OP-ED

The World Bank Group released its Doing Business 2010 report on September 9. This report, the seventh in an annual series that started in 2003, has a sobering message for Bangladesh. Despite some significant reforms, Bangladesh has slipped in the global rankings on the ease of doing business. It was the same story last year.

Overburdened by a burgeoning population and attendant civic problems, the city of Dhaka has become unwieldy and hard to live in. Between1980 and 2009, the population of Dhaka has swelled from 3 million to more than 10 million. From a somewhat laidback, sober city in the past, this capital has turned into a thriving, bustling business centre and a crowded metropolis as well.

Environment

Sonam W Sherpa lives in a village called Jiri, 4300 metres above the sea level, near mount Everest. He works as a tour guide. The Everest bound mountaineers start walking from Jiri camp. The Everest base camp is fifteen days walk from his village.

Concern over the Nijhum Dwip deer of Mr Sikander Ahmed (Daily Star, 6th August) and many others, who had given their opinion earlier on the issue is genuine. Their suggestions regarding these deer are most plausible but perhaps impractical in the present context of both the lack of long term planning and wildlife management resources of the government Forest Department (FD) and the existing meagre forest resources of the country. We must remember that man-made problems cannot be solved by the nature itself rather to be done away by ourselves.

Bangladesh starts brick export to Tripura's a news item published in different national dailies on August 20, 2009. Salient features of the news are: a) 40 crore bricks will be exported; b) Foreign Exchange earning will be boosted by Tk. 283 crores or $ 40.43 million approximately. That will reduce the trade gap between India and Bangladesh to the same extent. The trade gap in fiscal 2007-2008 was quoted to be $ 3.016 billion.

Literature

IT was in Rangoon in March 1981 that I had an unusual experience. My shy and retiring son of sixteen, who more than justified his nickname, which means 'one lost in reverie,' suddenly broke his silence to demand that I publish my scribblings done over the previous three decades. It was exceedingly strange and not a little gratifying that what was always in the nature of a monologue was sought to be given the stamp of irrevocable finality. It was a rare pleasure to find that one so young had been delving into the meaning of things and, out of filial loyalty perhaps, ascribed some merit to ancient and yellowed manuscripts.

Born on May 5, 1908 in Bikrampur, Dacca, Manik Bondopaddhaya spent his childhood in different areas of Bengal and Bihar with his father who had a transferable government job. With the publication of his short story 'Otoshi Mami' in Bichitra, a literary magazine, in 1928, he created a wave in the literary world. He was then a student of Presidency College, Calcutta. He wrote 'Dibaratrir Kabyya', a novel, at the age of 21. Even in a poverty-stricken life, writing was his living. His first novel 'Jononi' was published in 1935. Among his works, 'Padma Nodir Majhi', and 'Putul Nacher Itikotha' are outstanding. He died in 1956.

The little girl I first saw in 1962 died last week. She was too young to die; and I was too cruel not to receive her calls, those desperate yearnings for conversation that came from her. She was not extraordinary in that accepted sense of the meaning. And her education stopped at a point where it should not have. But she remained, all her brief life, a vibrant girl who kept telling me that she had grown into womanhood. Easy was our banter and light were the battles we waged on the telephone. She called every day --- and she kept calling because I was not willing to talk. She did not, would not give up. When finally I did pick up the call, meaning to reprimand her for calling so many times, it was her plaintive voice that acted as a mellowing agent for me. A sense of her loneliness calmed me a little and I laughed with her. She was happy.

Star Health

Mr and Mrs Rahman invited their friends for a lunch to celebrate their 10th marriage anniversary. They all had awesome lunch with fried and spicy foods like sea fish, chicken fry and mutton curry with pepper and lots of onions. They enjoyed a great day with friends and delicious foods. But later that afternoon, Mr Rahman felt burning sensation in upper abdomen. He had a sense of full stomach and experienced belching several times. The circumstance that Mr Rahman suffered is very familiar to us and most of us experience it in our lifetime. The typical condition is called indigestion.

The global and country level monitoring to step up maternal and child survival rate is crucially needed to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4) that calls for a two-thirds reduction in the mortality rate among children under the age of 5 years between 1990 and 2015.

Farid Miah (not a real name), a 25 year old poor young man was recently admitted in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) through outpatient clinic with the complaints of fever and extreme weakness. His X-ray chest was suggestive of a mass lesion at his chest. A possibility of Lymphoma, a kind of cancer was predicted.

In order to make the most effective use of Oseltamivir and stop people hoarding and overusing them, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged physicians to prescribe antiviral medicines to high-risk patients promptly but reminded that most people will not need and should not expect to get, the drugs if they come down with the flu.

Sometime during your 40s or 50s — usually coinciding with the menopausal transition — you may notice that maintaining your usual weight becomes more difficult. Weight gain after menopause seems to be harder to lose, and the inches tend to accumulate around your abdomen, rather than your hips and thighs.

Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) has been providing academic degree — B.Sc. in Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) programme since July 2004 with the affiliation of the University of Dhaka, says a press release.

Strategic Issues

A major diplomatic event has just been completed. Foreign Minister Dipu Moni has just returned from her official visit to New Delhi visit (September 8-10). A Joint Statement (JS) issued after the talks indicated that these were held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere where both sides reiterated their desire to move the relations ahead. The FM held official talks with her counterpart, Indian External Affairs Minister Mr. SM Krishna. She paid a courtesy call upon the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who mentioned that India attached the highest importance to its relations with Bangladesh. He hoped that a new chapter of Bangladesh-India relations would be written with the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India soon. Dipu Moni also called on Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Conspicuously left out was her proposed meeting with Sonia Gandhi according to information made available before her visit.

SENATOR Jim Webb's visit to Burma may yet prove to be extremely significant as he seeks to swap western sanctions for engagement with the military regime. "It is vitally important that the United States re-engage with Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, at all levels," the American politician told journalists during a press conference in Bangkok immediately after he left Rangoon.

Star Books Review

WHILE reading this book, I could hear the whispering of my intuition telling me that such a work most probably has not even been produced by someone subscribing to the faith of Islam. One is imbued with awe from the very beginning, that is, by reading the allusion that goes with the title of the book itself, till the end where the author upholds her conviction that the world in the 21st century is so full of turmoil and aggression that unless and until the Muslim and Western worlds strive to understand each other and act accordingly, the only planet we inhabit, which is one and the same for everybody, is very likely to crumble. She goes further and says, 'A good place to start is with the figure of Muhammad: a complex man, who resists facile, ideologically-driven categorization, who sometimes did things that were difficult or impossible for us to accept, but who had profound genius and founded a religion and cultural tradition that was not based on the sword but whose name - Islam - signified peace and reconciliation.'

GOD has always been elusive. Or the search for Him has been. Then too there are all the instances where looking for God, putatively finding Him and then claiming Him for a particular religious community has spawned issues over which vast global regions have become involved. Witness the aftermath of 11 September 2001 in the United States. Suddenly, because of the destruction in New York, Western interest in Islam as also its fears of it have become a considerable many degrees more pronounced. Karen Armstrong, happily for us, is not guided by these immediate considerations. For a basic reason, which is that she has for a very long time been writing on religion and has particularly remained busty expostulating the diverse aspects of the Islamic faith. Reasoned analyses have been part of her assessments of the place of faith in life.

Soon after her little brother was born little Sachi began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. The parents worried that Sachi might be jealous and try to hurt the baby. However, after days of cajoling, the parents finally left her baby brother with her. Elated, she went into the baby's room and shut the door, but it opened a crack---enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw little Sachi walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his and say quietly,

How does a writer affect his society by writing? What should an ideal writer write about? More importantly, where does a writer's words come from? These are the questions asked and discussed by J M Coetzee, from both ends of the spectrum, in Elizabeth Costello. The novel insightfully explores the many aspects of writing and writers, about the capability of evil in goodness and about the neutrality of the one who writes.